Lotus duo anticipating Williams scrap

Lotus pair Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean say they are encouraged by the squad's pace in Canada and reckon they should be able to challenge Williams this weekend.

Maldonado was fifth quickest in the second practice session prior to wet weather striking the area, while team-mate Grosjean clocked the seventh fastest time.

"It’s always tricky and difficult, the gaps are very close, we still can improve but even the other teams can improve at the same time, the track will change," he said.

"I think we will be around that zone [in the chasing pack], surprisingly we are close to the top teams maybe not Mercedes but maybe Ferrari - it's only two tenths. We’ll do our best. The car is working quite good at this track."

Grosjean admitted surprise at being able to set the third fastest time in the opening session.

"[It was] quite surprising to be P3 this morning, the afternoon confirmed we are in a good shape, p5 and 7, the car feels great, Monaco was a step forward and here it's much more in our direction so there’s a lot of positive today to try and get a good result tomorrow," he said.

"I think realistically we can try and give some hard times to the Williams - if not beat them. I’m sure there will be four cars quicker than us and if we can be close to the Williams or fight them that’d be pretty good."